“Why must I be killed?” asks Moroccan atheist

In 2010, Kacem El Ghazzali from Morocco found himself threatened with death for declaring his atheism and expressing his doubts about Islam on his website.

Three years later, having been hounded out of his country into exile in Switzerland he was given the chance to put a question directly to the Moroccan delegation at the United Nations on Tuesday. Morocco is a predominantly Islamic country and a member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Speaking as a representative attached to the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) delegation at the Human Rights Council, Kacem told his story:

Mr President

I am from a religious minority, I am an atheist. But as a result of publicly declaring my atheism I had to flee my native Morocco in fear of my life and seek refuge in Switzerland.

In 2010 I was a victim of death threats, of physical violence, and of discrimination by agents of the State.

After posting several articles on the internet about my atheism and why I decided to leave Islam I began to receive death threats, and people started to circulate my photo and address, calling on people to kill me. These threats were echoed by a public school teacher, who told students that I was an apostate atheist, showed them my videos and blogs, and said that I should be punished according to Islamic law – in other words, I should be killed. This was followed by demonstration against me in which the police refused to intervene. Instead I was taken from my home at night for interrogation by people who identified themselves as secret policemen.

When I tried to file a complaint against the teacher they refused to take up the case, saying it would be better to remove my blogs and apologise, and that they could easily arrest me because of a case taken out against me by an Islamic association. They added that declaring my atheism was the same as criticizing and insulting the king which under the constitution was considered to be blasphemy.

May I, through this Council, ask the government of Morocco why, under the Constitution, is no atheist allowed to be a citizen? Why does the Constitution insist that anyone with an Islamic name must be a Muslim? And why should an atheist be threatened with death?

2 Responses to “Why must I be killed?” asks Moroccan atheist

In Islam there is no such thing as killing “Ex-muslims” , in The holy Quran it is stated that if God almighty want us all to be believers he could have done that so why would we bother ourselves to force people into believe in Islam or something like that , and the “Hadiths” that talked about that case are not universal nor timeless and also suspected in their truthfulness , people should stop thinking that we have to change the world , yes we have a message to spread and that s it , we should not force people into adopting an idea #MuslimAndProud

The Quran only specifically calls for the death penalty for two crimes. The first is for intentional murder. According to verse 2:178, the family of the victim can either demand the perpetrator’s death for the crime, or accept monetary compensation instead. The second crime punished by execution literally translates to “spreading mischief in the land. The following Hadith: “‘Whosoever changes his religion, kill him,” a statement that is often used to support the death penalty for Muslims who leave Islam Is only valid when the person becomes a spy against Islamic state and causes mischief in that land. Most countries including Britain in the past supported death penalty for the enemy of the state. So apostacy is punishable by death in islam only if the apostate wages a war, fights against the muslims, becomes hostile towards islam.Basically such a person who has become an apostate is not punishable but God will not accept their repentance if they fullfill this verse :PICKTHAL 003.090: Lo! those who disbelieve after their (profession of) belief, and afterward grow violent in disbelief: their repentance will not be accepted. And such are those who are astray.